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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: A Fortunate Misunderstanding
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‘It’s cold.’
A chill ran through me, and I curled into myself.
I fumbled for a blanket, but my arms wouldn't move as I willed.
I could feel the hard, cold floor against my shoulder and hip.
Now that I thought about it, the arm pinned beneath me was completely numb, and the back of my neck was painfully stiff, as if I'd been struck.
Wait, I was knocked unconscious!
"Gasp."
I flinched, my eyes flying open.
"Where am I…?"
I instinctively looked around, trying to figure out my location.
Unexpectedly, I wasn't in a dungeon or anything of the sort.
Seeing the bathroom, elegantly decorated with reddish wall panels and black furniture, I had a good idea of where I was.
‘This looks like the bathroom attached to Cavalla's chambers.’
I wasn't certain, but I was sure I'd been caught, mistaken for a thief due to some kind of magic.
But why would the guards lock a thief in the empress's bathroom?
‘By the way, what is this smell?’
I wrinkled my nose at the unpleasant odor that sharply stung my nostrils.
The bathroom was filled with burning incense, as if someone had lit them and left, but even their strong fragrance couldn't mask a certain metallic scent.
‘The smell of blood?’
It seemed like it, but I couldn't be sure.
I had never in my life smelled blood so thick it filled an entire room.
Frowning at the awful smell, I looked around more closely and spotted some suspicious items on the washbasin.
‘Knives?’
Small knives, about the size of my palm, were neatly arranged by size and shape.
They were ornate, looking like they were for decorative or ceremonial purposes.
‘Why are there so many knives in a bathroom? What are they for?’
I had no idea.
‘That's not what's important right now.’
If the guards mistook me for the thief because of some magic, didn't that mean no one knew I had snuck into the empress's palace?
‘I still have a chance to raid the treasury!’
That is, if I could deal with the shackles on my wrists and ankles first.
But for some reason, I felt like I could get out of these shackles.
I was abnormally thin compared to others. My wrists, my hands... even my bone structure was delicate.
In other words, the shackles were quite loose on me.
It seemed these shackles were fitted for the thief, who must have had much thicker bones than I did.
I twisted my hand this way and that in the loose shackle. It felt like it would slip off, yet it wouldn't.
‘This isn't easy.’
It seemed like it might come off with a bit more force, but the problem was, I didn't have the strength.
After struggling for a while, I scanned the bathroom and spotted a bottle of fragrant oil on a shelf near the tub.
‘Why does it smell so bad in here when there are so many scented things?’
With that thought, I wriggled like a caterpillar over to the bottle of oil.
I struggled and barely managed to sit up.
Panting from the effort, I took the top of the bottle in my mouth and set it down on the floor.
Somehow, I managed to pull out the stopper and pour the oil on my wrist. A rich fragrance spread as my slick hand slipped right out of the shackle.
‘It worked!’
Using the same method, I was able to remove all the shackles from my wrists and ankles.
‘I have to get out of here, quickly.’
I tiptoed to the bathroom door, pressed my ear against it, and listened for any sounds outside. I heard nothing.
Seeing the lock was on the inside, I carefully turned the handle. The door opened with surprising ease.
‘Let's see, where am I…’
I quietly slipped out of the bathroom and looked around, stunned.
‘This is Cavalla's bedroom!’
A spacious and lavish room, decorated in an elegant style.
Anyone could see this was the empress's bedroom.
Even more incense was burning in the bedroom than in the bathroom. Thanks to them, I could see my surroundings clearly even without any other lights.
I was dumbfounded.
Why would they capture me, mistaking me for a thief, only to throw me into the bathroom of Cavalla's bedroom?
‘What is going on…?’
This was so strange. What could it be?
No matter what scenario I considered, my imagination fell short of explaining this situation.
‘I don't know.’
I didn't know what was happening, but whatever it was, this was clearly a stroke of luck for me.
‘My goal was to sneak into Cavalla's bedroom, and they just threw me in here!’
Listening for any sounds from outside, I moved quickly, rummaging through Cavalla's belongings.
Finding the magic key wasn't very difficult. It was kept in the top drawer of the nightstand.
‘She's more careless than I thought.’
But that was a miscalculation.
I clutched the fist-sized, die-shaped key with both hands and peeked through the curtains to check the time, only to realize my mistake.
‘The window is magically locked…?’
When I brought my hand near the window, it was repelled.
Just in case, I reached for the doorknob, but my hand was repelled just as feebly.
Cavalla wasn't careless with her key; she had hidden it in the most secure place possible.
And I was trapped in Cavalla's magically sealed bedroom.
‘If I had tried to get in here on my own without knowing this, I would have failed.’
It seemed she really hated the idea of anyone else entering her bedroom.
Why else would she place such a powerful spell on her own bedroom?
‘Even the Empress's palace wasn't this secure.’
I glanced out the window one more time.
It was still very dark, but I could faintly make out my surroundings, which meant the sun must be rising.
Fortunately, it seemed I hadn't been unconscious for too long.
‘I have to get out before Cavalla returns.’
But how, when every single door is magically locked?
I calmly stood before a certain wall.
There was a reason I thought things would be easy once I found the key in Cavalla's bedroom.
I knew the imperial palace's secret passages inside and out.
‘It's an escape route, so you can't get in from the outside, but you can get out from the inside.’
That was how I'd always snuck out of my chambers without the maids knowing.
I activated the secret mechanism hidden in the wall.
The secret door slid open smoothly, without a sound.
Cavalla would never have dreamed that such a passage was connected to her room.
This was a secret known only to the emperors and empresses of the past.
‘But Mother broke the rules and told me the secret.’
Thinking back now, perhaps Mother suspected the royal consort and the prince were after our lives.
I calmly left the empress's chambers through the only door not sealed by magic.
* * *
The secret passage was unmaintained and untouched by sunlight, making it a far from pleasant place.
It was damp and thick with mold, reeking of mildew, and the floor was black and slippery with what might have been grime or moss.
As the door closed behind me, I was plunged into a pitch-black darkness where I could see nothing.
An instinctive fear of the unfamiliar, dark space washed over me.
But I stared wide-eyed into the blackness and shook it off.
‘I don't have time to stand here trembling. I need to move, to gather even the smallest things, to contribute to Andrea and Cavalla's misfortune and my own happiness.’
The thought of them—the ones who made my life so wretched and miserable—living happily is more terrifying to me than this darkness.
I gritted my teeth and carefully descended the stairs leading to the underground.
At the bottom of the stairs, I felt along the damp wall. Something unidentifiable and slimy stuck to my hand. A shiver of disgust ran down my spine.
But I repeated to myself over and over.
‘I'm not a sheltered flower. I'm not weak. I can do this.’
As I diligently felt my way along the wall, I found a torch and a flint.
A torch and flint were prepared at the entrance of every secret passage.
*Click! Click!*
After much effort, I clumsily managed to light the torch.
‘I'll take the exit closest to the treasury.’
In the complex underground passage, which had no signs, I relied solely on my intuition to move forward.
And finally.
‘Treasure!’
Having safely infiltrated the treasury, my eyes were met with the sparkle of countless neatly arranged jewels.
